New Law to Stop Commercial Movie Sites From Listing Actors' Ages

A new law designed to protect actors from being forced to reveal their ages online is coming into effect. California governor Jerry Brown has signed the bill, which will require "commercial online entertainment employment providers" to remove the ages of those listed on their sites if requested to do.

As Deadline reports, the new law will apply most prominently to IMDB Pro, the subscriber version of the Amazon-owned movie database which is used extensively by industry professionals.

The bill was pushed by the Screen Actors Guild‐American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, who have argued for some time that listing the ages of actors was discriminatory. In a statement, SAG-AFTRA president Gabrielle Carteris said: "SAG-AFTRA has been working hard for years to stop the career damage caused by the publication of performers' dates of birth on online subscription websites used for casting like IMDb and StudioSystem.

"Currently, many websites used for casting proactively present birth dates and ages to casting decision makers who often can't avoid seeing this information even if they try. This law will help improve the working lives of all SAG-AFTRA members and aspiring performers."

As Deadline points out, IMDB could technically get around the law by cancelling the pro accounts of those users who ask to have their ages removed, as it does not apply to free sites like standard IMDB.

It is also thought that the law could face a First Amendment freedom of speech challenge from its opponents. In a piece for The Hollywood Reporter, Internet Association's Michael Beckerman argued that the law would prohibit sites from publishing information which was already in the public domain. "Displaying such information isn't a form of discrimination, and internet companies should not be punished for how people use public data," he said.